Category Archives: equities

Back in March we introduced and briefly discussed Trump’s intention to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum goods. In less than a year those trade disputes escalated in a trade war, impacting not only the two involved countries but also other trading partners, including the EU. The disaffection versus international institutions has been driven byContinue reading “US-China Trade War Effect on the EU”

What’s up buddy? At the beginning of 2018, the VIX, an instrument which tracks the volatility of the S&P500, surged dramatically showing a comeback of fear among investors (Figure 1) following a period of extreme calm started after the financial crisis. Figure 1: Higher VIX since February 2018 Source: Bloomberg February’s spike in volatility ledContinue reading “Our view on 2019”

Long we have been used to tech stocks trading at price multiples (price/earnings) at more than the industry standard has been comfortable with for decades. Benjamin Graham’s ideal PE is between 10 and 15 dollars. The Dow Industrial is trading at 25 PE, the S&P 500 is trading at 25 PE. If you thought thatContinue reading “The Retaliation of Tech”

Spotify will go public before the end of the first half of 2018 and has already filed confidentially with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Allen & Co to advise on the listing, acting as commission brokers that will only help selling the shares. Spotify, the privately held SwedishContinue reading “Spotify goes public, not through an IPO”

Many of us have been asking ourselves this question after President Trump announced his intention to impose 25% and 10% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, respectively. Trump’s announcement might be challenging the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) which despite evolving throughout time, have remained the WTO’s foundation since its establishment after WorldContinue reading “Are We on the Verge of a Trade War?”

On May 15th, 2017 Atlantia has announced its intention to acquire its Spanish competitor, Abertis. Atlantia, Italian toll operator whose main asset is Autostrade per l’Italia, the largest concessionaire on the Italian highway network, is a holding company belonging to the Benetton family. Under the management of its CEO, Giovanni Castellucci, former partner at theContinue reading “Bidding War fires up the largest European deal of 2017”